Thoughts on protective gear (e.g. Knee protectors, pads)?

[slcbelle]

Saw kneecap shatter in front of my eyes too, on a simple three turn that my friend could have done in his sleep

(La, la, la...I can't hear you.  I didn't read this.  Nope.  Carry on!). 

[Traceekins]

Saw kneecap shatter in front of my eyes too, on a simple three turn that my friend could have done in his sleep

That's awful!

[supra]

One coach I know saw a 9 year old kid die on the ice from hitting her head.

Another guy who used to skate at my rink skated into the boards and fell and tore the tendons connecting his shoulder to his clavicle and lost feeling in some of his fingers.

You can get hurt or die skating. But I figure statistically I'm more likely to die or be hurt on the car ride to the rink than actually at the rink.

[Vicki7]

Saw kneecap shatter in front of my eyes too, on a simple three turn that my friend could have done in his sleep

I'm just starting to work on my 3 turns now and am having a serious mental block with them. I know it's because I'm scared of falling. After reading this, I'm digging out the clunky, ugly skateboarder kneepads before my practice session tomorrow...

Anyone know anywhere in the UK I can get the gel knee/elbow pads? I can make retention doo-dahs for them no problem, just need the actual gel parts...

[jjane45]

Anyone know anywhere in the UK I can get the gel knee/elbow pads? I can make retention doo-dahs for them no problem, just need the actual gel parts...

for DIY, search for 1/4" akton polymer pads.

[Gabby on Ice]

I always wear knee pads when I skate because I have hit my knee on the ice so many times. After I broke my kneecap, that's when I started wearing pads.

[jjane45]

Well, I have more first-hand horror stories!! Ice is slippery and I see no reason not to protect ourselves.

[Query]

Worst has been my wrists getting pulled for like 2-3 weeks.

What does "pulled" mean? A "pulled" (stretched to the point of injury) muscle - i.e., a muscle "strain"?

Is such an injury particularly consistent with judo style falls? - another judo person said that many judo falls involve "slapping" the floor hard with a hand.

It's great that you've never broken anything. A lot of us are probably jealous!

[aussieskater]

After I broke my kneecap, that's when I started wearing pads.

Me too.  I'd fallen doing nothing at all, and copped a "star" series of cracks on the kneecap, radiating out from the impact site.  Took me off the ice for months, and I was extremely lucky it wasn't worse.  Where were my skatingsafe knee pads at the time?  Why, they were doing a fine job protecting my bag at rinkside of course  .  Orthopod made a rule:  "No kneepads?  No skating."  I've followed it since, except that I do remove them for competition.

At my advancing age  , I can't afford to increase the risk of a debilitating injury.  Sure, I might fall over on the street or down the stairs - if we want to avoid all risk, we'd sit at home and probably die of a heart attack - but the reality is that slippery ice adds a whole other dimension of risk.  I vaguely recall reading a post some time ago from an adult skater, whose coach refused to allow protection of any sort.  I remember thinking at the time, "So will that coach pay the skater's mortgage and bills while s/he is unable to work following a preventable injury??"

[iomoon]

Instead of making fun of someone for their helmets, I say "good thinking." Hitting your head on ice hurts like crazy!

[Mergen Tatara]

I wear my safety pads under my clothing (long pants, long sleeve shirts/Ts).  Only the wrist guards are apparent, worn over the gloves.

At the end of the day, even the most experienced elite skaters cannot predict when they're gonna fall.  I'm just a recreational skater and I wanna have fun, not pain.  So I take the precautions.  No point risking breaking an elbow, knee and wrist over a recreational activity. 

The thing about falls is you never know when it's coming or how bad it'll be.  You can be going through a standard routine done countless times, and then it happens.     

[rosereedy]

I never wore crash pads until this year when I kept falling on the same spot on my knee.  It was so badly bruised that it is still discolored to this day.  I wear the skating safe gel knee pad under my tights and it's been a saving grace.  I don't think about it being there.  I can skate with or without it, make no difference in how I skate.  LOVE this thing.  Now I can wear shorts again without looking like I was playing football or something.

[supra]

What does "pulled" mean? A "pulled" (stretched to the point of injury) muscle - i.e., a muscle "strain"?

Is such an injury particularly consistent with judo style falls? - another judo person said that many judo falls involve "slapping" the floor hard with a hand.

It's great that you've never broken anything. A lot of us are probably jealous!

Yeah, muscle strain I guess. I dunno, my wrist hurt to do stuff with for like 2-3 weeks. I guess overstretched would be accurate. And yeah, judo falls do involve slapping the mat. But it's not even totally a slap, it's done more to get up from the ground quickly. On ice it's not really ideal, using your hands to fall, as you can break your hands/everything up to your shoulder. So it's better more to just slide, ala baseball slides, which is something else I experienced a lot of as a kid. So parents, sign your kids up for a wide variety of sports so they get a bunch of random seemingly useless skills that may help them later on.

If I were a girl and not wearing pants, one thing I'd get imo is some leggings that were fairly thick and went up to around your knees. I've cut my calves on my toepicks falling, usually slicing through whatever workout pants I'm wearing. I'd imagine it'd be much worse wearing tights or whatever.

[Sk8Dreams]

I'm another who always wears SkatingSafe gel knee pads.  I'm 66 and a coach.  I can't afford injuries.  I also saw a woman break her knee cap on forward crossovers. 

Besides knee pads, the best protection against that type of fall, IMO, is to learn to chasse the under foot out from under the crossover.  I now always teach chasses as part of the learning progression for forward crossovers.  I had observed on my own that catching the under toe was a risk, and taught myself (clueless coach at the time) to lift that toe, but chasses give the skater practice in the exact move needed before tackling the crossovers.  I need to give credit for that idea to someone here, but can't remember who it was. Sorry!

[Mergen Tatara]

I'm just starting to work on my 3 turns now and am having a serious mental block with them. I know it's because I'm scared of falling.

I know how it feels.  Have you considered whether the problem was trying to "force" the turn by turning the shoulders too much (abruptly) and consciously "twisting" the waist to make the turn?  The experts here will give better advice but personally, I found it helped by forgetting about the twist.  No need to twist.  Just let the body & shoulders naturally lean into the turn and tilt the weight forward onto the ball.  Most IMPORTANT thing for me is the CHECK.  As soon as you make the turn, have to swing your shoulders & waist INSTANTLY in the opposite direction to maintain balance.  Must be instant cos the turn happens so fast.

Till this day, I'm still struggling with the forward outside.  I can't keep it relatively straight after the turn.  It curves too much.  Surprisingly, I'm better on the forward inside.  No problems.

[supra]

I know how it feels.  Have you considered whether the problem was trying to "force" the turn by turning the shoulders too much (abruptly) and consciously "twisting" the waist to make the turn?  The experts here will give better advice but personally, I found it helped by forgetting about the twist.  No need to twist.  Just let the body & shoulders naturally lean into the turn and tilt the weight forward onto the ball.  Most IMPORTANT thing for me is the CHECK.  As soon as you make the turn, have to swing your shoulders & waist INSTANTLY in the opposite direction to maintain balance.  Must be instant cos the turn happens so fast.

Till this day, I'm still struggling with the forward outside.  I can't keep it relatively straight after the turn.  It curves too much.  Surprisingly, I'm better on the forward inside.  No problems.

That was my thing, with "forcing" stuff. If you have to force moves, you should go back to the drawing board and figure out why you're having to force it. For me personally with the turns, I've learned it's mostly about just riding the edge out until the end, if that makes sense. Once you're at the end of the edge, the turn will almost happen by itself. But if you just try to "go" and you're on, say, the middle of the blade, with no arc created, it won't turn all too well.

Oddly I've almost never fallen learning to do 3s slowly. It's only when I try to do them when I'm blasting down the ice is when I fall and it sucks. If you're just learning slowly on the hockey goal area or something, just put your foot down if you feel like you're gonna fall and save yourself.

Also, I have a theory that it's easier to save yourself on a shallower radius, too. You're less likely to catch edge and just fall seemingly randomly, or if you put your foot down it's easier as it won't force you on edge without you pushing down harder/leaning in more.

[iomoon]

I misplaced my pads and didn't wear them. My knees have 4 colorful bruises on them. Whoops.

Yes, crash pads are important. 

[Cush]

I have fallen on my knees several times in the past. Ouch!
I've already got bad knees to start with. Hearing now about shattered kneecaps totally convinced me - Skating safe knee crash pads are ordered and on the way.

[slcbelle]

I just ordered the Bunheads gel knee support pads.  Though I have the Skating Safe knee pads as well, I rarely use them.  The other day, I had a slow and controlled fall (I can't recall what I was doing) and landed on my knees.  It was nothing major but it was enough to remind me of the knee shattering stories on this thread.  I'm going to give the Bunheads pads a try as my daily knee pads.  I'll just slip them on over my tights and under my yoga pants.  Easy on, easy off.  When I work on new jumps or difficult elements, I'll wear the Skating Safe.  I'll post a review once I've received them and put them in action.

[Elsa]

Any updates on the bunhead pads?  I'm less than a week away from getting back on the ice, and feeling like it's probably time for me to consider some pads.  I'm SO over being on the injured list! 

[slcbelle]

Any updates on the bunhead pads?  I'm less than a week away from getting back on the ice, and feeling like it's probably time for me to consider some pads.  I'm SO over being on the injured list! 

Hi Elsa.  I haven't skated since the first week of July and haven't tried them out yet.  My Riedells are so brutal on my feet that I just had to stop while waiting for my custom Harlicks to arrive.  Those came in last week but needed punching so I sent them back to Harlick.  Ho hum.  I'm ready to get back on the ice already!  I've tried them on and they are very slim.  I like them more than my SkatingSafe knee pads but I haven't fallen with them.

[TreSk8sAZ]

Any updates on the bunhead pads?  I'm less than a week away from getting back on the ice, and feeling like it's probably time for me to consider some pads.  I'm SO over being on the injured list! 

I have them, and I quite like them. I have been using them for repeated falls on my axel attempts. I started getting a really bad bruise from getting up and pushing off the same knee every time. In addition to providing some padding, they also provide some knee stability support. I only wear them on days when I'm jumping, but when I fall and hit my knee or I get up, you can't even feel the ice under your knee. Although not large, they have quite a bit of padding and I think could take a direct fall well, though that's not how I've fallen on them.

[dlbritton]

I started skating just over a year ago (in my 50's) and wore no protective equipment until very recently.  Now I am wearing knee pads and wrist guards at the suggestion of my coach.  I have only fallen a few times over the year. My coach feels I have a fear of falling and it is holding me back.  So we are trying this as an experiment.  The wrist guards are particularly annoying and in general I prefer to skate without this stuff on.  But I trust his instincts and will stick with it until we agree it either served the purpose or didn't.

I too just started skating in my 50's and wore wrist guards the first few lessons, but have stopped wearing them for now. Once I start learning spins I will probably wear them again. I have been wearing them for years with my inline skates so they really weren't a nuisance, just hot with gloves. I may go with wrist guards and no gloves and see how that feels.

I have soft foam (volleyball) knee pads and hard shell (inline skate) knee pads but haven't used either yet. Figure the soft won't do much and the hard would be too restrictive. I will investigate the soft gel skate pads others have mentioned here.

I work as a ski instructor in the winter and am used to skiing without protective gear beyond a helmet so I feel comfortable not wearing much on the ice.

I do have a question about helmets. I have a ski helmet that feels too heavy to want to wear skating and a tear drop shaped bicycle helmet I wear inline skating, but I have heard negative comments about wearing that type of helmet due to the shape. What are opinions on helmet use and types?

[rachelplotkin]

The soft knee pads actually are quite good.  I had a great deal of difficulty getting the skate safe gel pads to stay in place so I returned them.  The volleyball pads have worked out nicely for me.  My rare falls tend to land me on my knees and I've yet to sustain even a bruise since starting with the pads.  Several of the adults I skate with also wear these knee pads and have similar experiences to mine.

Tear drop shaped bike helmets are not a good idea for skaters. Falling backwards and landing on that tear shaped back is likely to cause more harm, especially to your neck.  After a recent backwards fall I used a helmet for a couple of weeks.  It had a flat back and I rather felt like a roller derby player wearing it.  I wore it until my injuries healed and my confidence was at pre-fall level.

My biggest complaint with any of the protective gear is the heat they generate.  Not wearing gloves (which I rarely do anyway) helps when wearing wrist guards.  But all of it tends to heat me up faster than when skating without it.  But in general a little more sweat is worth the payoff of protecting myself from injury.

[FigureSpins]

Bike helmets are tear-drop shaped to reduce air resistance. If yours has a removable plastic piece that comes to a point, take it off for skating.  It can break during a fall and you could get hurt. The ski helmet (or a hockey helmet) is best for a beginner - bonus is that you have to really hold up your head to see where you're going, so it develops a good habit of looking up, rather than, down.  Wrist braces present the same challenge: if your arms aren't hanging at your side, that's good.

I think it's smart for adults to start out with pads and I don't care during lessons one way or another.  As long as they don't interfere with knee bend, it's fine.  I wish the ISI and USFSA would issue a statement saying *discreet* knee/elbow pads are okay for tests and competitions so that there won't be any concern about bias from the judges.